Cloak of Dishonesty
by Nederbird
Summary: On the night following Andariel's defeat, Gheed finds himself confronted by the memories of his past.
1. Place of Origin

This is pretty much my first story, though I have written things before, this is my first published work. I got the idea when I'd been playing Diablo II for a few days and I was trading with Gheed again. I was wondering what his past might've been like. It's been in my head for a while but now I've finally taken the time and effort to write it together and the courage to post it here. So I present to you my first fanfic, enjoy!

_All italicized text represent__s thoughts, in this case Gheed's._

Oh, and reviews would be most appreciated. ^^

**Cloak of Dishonesty**

Chapter 1 – Place of Origin

Gheed waved the stalwart paladin goodbye as he strode away. He'd had a crazy look in his eyes, much like that of soldiers coming home from a great battle. He thought that perhaps confronting one of the Lesser Evils wasn't as easy as the holy warrior had made it out to be, overconfidence must've gotten the better of him. With Andariel's defeat though, came relief and the whole encampment seemed in a much better mood.

_Had this been any__ other place in the world, they'd thrown a party about it_, Gheed thought. _But oh no, this is the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye, here we do anything but party._

He'd decided to close his shop for the day. It's not like anyone was going to buy anything now that it all is over, and no party means that nobody's going to look for any booze either. Packing up and leaving seemed like a smart thing to do right now, and he would've been doing just that if there wouldn't have been that special something that kept him clinging to the miserable place.

That's when he noticed two black figures standing some ten metres away from him. Their bodies were silhouetted against the great bonfire behind them, making it impossible to discern any features, but the silhouettes was all that Gheed needed to know who they where.

"Good evening, Gheed," greeted him the voice of and older woman, and Gheed never doubted a second that it belonged to Akara, beside her stood Kashya, rigid as always. He felt he knew why they where there and a cold shiver ran across his spine.

"Good evening, ladies," he responded, politely as possible, even managing a small bow. "There's no need for you to worry, I know you don't take to kindly to me here so I was just taking the liberty to pack up and leave," he lied.

"Actually, we came here to talk." They stepped forward, letting Gheed's lanterns illuminate their features. Akara wore a pleasant, reassuring smile and though Gheed had his doubts, he felt he could trust the woman. Kashya on the other hand, sported her trademark scowl that she reserved for whenever she knew Gheed was in the vicinity: a smile that told Gheed that she'd like nothing more but to decapitate him on the spot.

Nevertheless, Akara's words surprised him.

"Talk? What about?"

"Gheed, I need not hide that I have never really trusted nor liked you very much, and they have come times when I almost felt it would be better to have you thrown out. Yet I didn't… I don't think anyone deserves to be thrown out among those beasts. However, I like to know what people I am dealing with… I'm sure you understand," she explained honestly, hiding her unease behind a very convincing warm, but fake smile.

"Ah, yes… of course!" Gheed replied, then he laughed a bit. "You actually had me scared there. For a while, I though you'd come to throw me out by fo-"

"Don't press your luck, you rat! I wouldn't want to do anything but that right now, so if you value your filthy life you'll stop babbling and do as your told!", Kashya interrupting, the fury of her voice making here dislike of the prospect of listening to Gheed's lies very clear.

Gheed, a bit frightened, just shut up and fetched an old wooden bench he'd had in storage since before he could remember. Akara gladly accepted the seat offered, but Kashya declined, stating that she preferred to stand and continued to glare at the older merchant. He silently cursed his predicament, wishing her legs would break from the pressure, and sat himself down beside the old priestess while taking care not to get to close.

"So then," he began, a little nervously: "what did you want to talk about?"

"Gheed, it has come to my attention that… or rather, I don't think it is any secret that you have been spending quite some time with Charsi and frankly, it's been worrying us."

_Oh, you don't say?_ he thought, mentally rolling his eyes. _As if I haven't heard that a dozen times already._

"Why? Me? I don't think you need to worry, my dear Priestess. I just feel the need to socialize with others just like you or Kashya here," he said, gesturing at the fiery captain, who made no effort to hide her contempt at it. "And it's not solely Charsi I've spent my time with. Why, I talk to Warriv all the time! Or that paladin, he's great company too, as I'm sure you all know by now."

"Yes Gheed, we know," she nodded again, albeit more impatiently, like a mother explaining a difficult concept to her child. "But I also think that you know very well why we're worried."

_Of course I do! But hell that I'd let you know I know!_

"You've got me at a loss here, Akara," he feigned naivety.

"It's your amoral influence that we don't like! Now either you-" at that point, Kashya's outburst was stopped by Akara's raised hand.

"Your business practices are not exactly what one would call honest, much less you yourself. And we barely even have any idea about who you are or where you came from. It's rather difficult to trust anyone with that lack of knowledge," Akara continued.

_Oh no, don't go there!_, a part of Gheed's mind warned. One he did not heed.

"I'm sorry if that's how you feel, Akara. But to be frank myself, you've never asked me anything about my past. Now that I think about it, you haven't asked me much about anything, so where would you like me to start?" he figured cooperation was the best way to save his skin at such circumstances. Akara was rather surprised at the truth the man had said, for in the end they truly never had asked him about anything.

"I see your point. In that case, where do you come from?"

"Fairlight. Wonderful little town, far beyond Bramwell and Westmarch to the west. You got the neverending sea on one side and green hills on the other. Only downside's the cold. It gets pretty windy up there, especially in the winter," he recalled, feeling a bit nostalgic.

"Sounds like a very pleasant place nonetheless," Akara said, glad to see a side of the man she hadn't expected, but still wary of any tricks he might be playing on her. "I trust your family is still living there, how are they like?"

That question pierced the old man's heart like a rusty old spike. Nobody had ever asked him that question before, and he wasn't particularly happy that she'd brought it up now.

"That's… a private matter… I'm sure you understand," he said, mimicking Akara's phrase from before. The pain was evident on his face and Akara could deduce enough. Still, she wanted to know more about the man sitting beside her.

"In that case, I won't pursue the matter further. But I'd like to know what made you become a merchant." Gheed sighed.

"My father was a merchant too, travelling with the caravans. He made a lot of money, got to see the world, always had all these fantastic stories to tell or these weird foreign items to show. It seemed so amazing. Usually kids my age dreamt of going out sailing or become knights or something for adventure, I wanted to become a merchant," he told and paused for a moment. "Heh, guess I ended up as one after all," he chuckled as he had a flashback from his childhood years.

"And you're happy with it?" Akara asked.

"Is this some sort of interrogation?" Gheed replied curtly, he didn't like it when people pried into his private life. But he soon remembered his position and resigned himself to it. "Yes, I am."

Akara merely nodded. For a while they were silent, Gheed for the moment being lost in his memories, but Akara just waited patiently. He would talk, she knew it and indeed, after a while he let on a bit more.

"I always looked up to my father as a kid. When the day came that I had to manage for myself, I figured I wanted to be like him, I've always worked to be like him since he's the most honorable man I've ever known," he admitted, then sighed deeply. "But now that I think of it, I don't think I'm even close."

"If you are supposed to be any hint of that man, then he must have been an even more dishonorable pig than the one sprouting lies before me now." At that comment, Gheed instantly rose to his feet, his blood boiling.

"He was not!" he yelled back as he locked his gaze with Kashya's, sporting a furious glare that matched her own. "He was not! He was the most honorable man I ever met, much more so that you are, or will ever be! And I dare you to say anything else!" His ferocity astounded both of the women. Evidently, they'd hit a soft spot, and Gheed at this time would've have had no qualms about charging Kashya with the little dagger he always kept hidden in his cowl. Kashya herself, itching for a moment to use her sword on him, was about to reach for her blade when Akara stepped in.

"Stand down, Kashya!" she commanded, though when she noticed the captain's hand still lingering close to the hilt, she urgently felt the need to repeat herself. "I said stand down! I will not have any further bloodspill on a day as this!"

The rogue captain stood still as a statue, fire burning in her eyes as she glared at Gheed, whose eyes mirrored her own.

"I believe it is best that you leave, Kashya. You have done enough already." Kashya remained for a while, eyeing the man opposite to her with pure disgust, then snorted and marched away. Akara then turned to the still enraged trader. "And Gheed, you would do well to remember that it is by our mercy that you are allowed refuge here among us, and I will not tolerate any insults to any of my sisters, is that understood?" Her tone was stern, but Gheed maintained his anger for a while longer, before he eased up and let go of it all, sighing in relief.

"Yes, I understand perfectly."

"Though I must apologize for the way she behaved, it is not like her to be so rude, and we had no idea that you… held anything so dear," she apologized, this time with pure sincerity in her voice. Although hesitant at that last comment, she felt that when confronted with not knowing what to say, it is best to speak honestly.

"I see," he said, annoyed a bit by her remark, but knowing full well that he had made no effort to mend their image of him, whatsoever. "It's not just my father… my mother too… both of them. They both meant very much to me, I can't have anybody tarnish their memory," he admitted a bit bitterly.

_Damn, why did I tell her that? She must have bewitched me or something!_

"I see," she said, as she now seemed to understand fully what the man bore. She seemed to understand the man himself better as a whole and in doing so, she hade essentially accomplished what she had come there to do. "I will leave you to yourself, as clearly you are in some distress. I bid you good night."

"Good night," he replied and watched her leave.

It had struck his very soul when Kashya had besmirched the memory of his father, and a simple apology wouldn't suffice, though deep down he knew that what he truly wanted he could never get, and so he had to swallow his pride and accept the simple apology. It had always been like that, back home the local street kids had done the same, and all those beatings and bruises from striking back at them had taught him them that revenge was forever outside his reach, he had always been the object of ridicule of others and had to face the fact that that would never change.

He thought of something, the only thing that could calm him now, and though he knew that the Rogues only let him stay because she found comfort in him, this time, he was the one in need of comfort.

And so he went to seek it in none other but the trusted local blacksmith.


	2. Redemption

Chapter 2 - Redemption

It was cold and dark, the only light being the flailing lanterns and burning torches of the unusually large caravan surrounding him, as well as the sparkling stars littering the dark blue sky. Dawn was breaking, he knew it, but none of it could really be seen because of the mountains that covered the horizon.

It was still light enough though that he could see quite a bit around, and only about twenty meters ahead he could spot a glint of golden hair being revealed as someone took of their hood. He knew instantly who it was.

"Oi, Charsi!" he hollered from atop his wagon. He wasn't going to pass this opportunity up. "Charsi!"

She spun her head around and he waved at her, beckoning her to come. She rushed over to him in a matter of seconds.

"Well, what luck I must have this evening to find you here!", he greeted, sporting a wide grin.

"Gheed! I thought you were up further ahead!"

"Nah, we traders like to stick to the middle. Makes is safer in case someone would decide to attack, let the guards take handle the trouble, you know. Here, get up and have a set," he offered, extending a hand to help her up. She took it and climbed up the old trading wagon, seating herself right beside him.

"Thanks!"

"Don't mention it," he waved it away, happy to have her company for one last time.

_Funny… I don't remember me ever feeling THIS happy about her before._

"You get a great view from up here!" she said, looking out over the plains and the caravan.

"You like it? Heh, maybe you should get one of these yourself. I think that one with your skills could surely be able to make a living travelling around like this, people are always in need of weapons and armour, you know."

"Oh, I don't know. I mean, I'd really want to go out there and experience all these amazing things you've told me so much about, but I kind of like it in the Sisterhood. There's always a friend to talk to and it's so secure there. I grew up with them, so I don't really know how I would be able to manage without them."

"That's something I've been meaning to ask you for a while: what made you decide to start working on weapons and such?"

Oh! I'm so glad you asked! Well, when I was a child, there wasn't so much for us to do besides…"

They kept on talking for hours and while there might've been a time when Gheed would rather have skipped the boring talk and gotten to the "point", or when he thought her endless talk was going to bleed his ears to death, right now, he felt like he wanted to just sit and talk and let the conversation last forever. But like all things, it didn't, and it eventually got to a point where he had to get to the point or miss it forever.

"Listen, Charsi, there's something I have to admit to you that I'm not all that happy about."

"What's that?"

"You've probably heard what everybody's been saying: that I'm a dishonourable little rat whose only point in life is to trick people out of their money and the like. Well… it's true, that's exactly what I am. And without you knowing it I've been raking in hoards of gold right under your nose, while I let you believed I was your friend." Charsi, always being the naïve one, of course was very shocked at the news.

"But before you say or do anything rash," he continued, "here's something I want you to have." He then handed her a brown bag the size of a football but felt almost as heavy as an anvil. "There's what I think you could've made if I'd have been honest with you and taught you some of the business tricks I know. See it as my way of saying 'I'm sorry'."

Now she was even more stunned, beyond words. Being that, she decided that since she didn't know what to say, best thing to do was just to open the bag and peer inside it.

"Gheed! This is a fortune!" she exclaimed as she saw the gold and silver coins in it. There were also some gemstones and jewels inside.

"A fortune that rightfully belongs to you!," he replied matter-of-factly.

_Ugh…__ rightfully belongs to you? That just sounds wrong coming from me! Since when did I turn into such a wuss?_

"And what's this?" she asked as she pulled out a golden chain, on which end hung a magnificent amulet. "Gheed? What's this about?"

_Oh no! Not already!_

"Err… uhm… well… you see… I wanted you to have it," he mumbled.

"What?"

"I said I wanted you to have it! Now put it back before somebody sees it. If Warriv or any of the other guys find out, they're gonna mock me about it for as long as I live."

"Sure but… why me?" she asked as she put the pendant back into the bag and sealed it.

_Oh no, not that question! Anything but that! Gahh… this is __just going to be embarrassing…_ he thought, but deep inside he'd really wanted her to ask that more than anything else.

"Uhm… well, it is… it's because you mean a lot to me, Charsi. You're the only person on this whole godforsaken world who's ever given a damn about me besides my parents. No one ever cared about me, not the way you do, they either just loathe me or pester me and try to make my life as miserable as humanly possible… or they simply just don't give a damn," he told her, then remained quiet for a long while, they both did, and both of them were flushed quite red at that moment, though none of them noticed it as they'd suddenly found the moving ground below them far more to their interest. "But you… you're different."

"Th-thanks Gheed, I didn't know," she stuttered.

"Of course you didn't. Why, I just told you," he looked at her and grinned the same way his father used to do at him when he'd been a child and asked the same thing. Charsi laughed, she'd always liked that side about him, the funny one. No matter how dreary the day would be, he could always lighten up her mood with his jokes and antics. "That's hers by the way."

"What?" she asked, calming her laughter.

"The amulet, it's my mother's… or was. She's gone now, since long, both of them are," he said and looked out over the caravan, a faraway look overcoming his face. "Father died in a marauder raid in Aranoch, the very same place I'll be going through soon, when I was eight. Mother took care of me then, as I didn't have any siblings, but she died too only three years later from some strange disease that nobody could cure."

That's… just horrible… What happened to you?"

"Me? I was flung out into the streets is what happened to me. I had to live among the homeless kids in the filth and mud and beg for food and money and drink whatever shite that fell down from the sky and collected in the barrels. Sometimes I had to feed myself on some meaty bug that crawled around in the grass or root around in folks' composts for food. It was disgusting but hey, food on the table is still food on the table." Charsi covered her mouth in disgust.

"After a while though, I learned that I could earn money by running errands for the sailors and then up my living standards a bit by buying me some little scrap of food at the end of each day. Then I learnt that if I instead spent the money on some little item at one end of the town, I could sell it at a higher cost in the other end."

"Wow! I never realized that you were the type of person to have been so down in the gutter, you don't really strike one as such."

"Surprised?" he chuckled before continuing. "Though it wasn't easy, I was pretty much all by myself, so the other street kids would usually gang up on me after a while and take whatever hard-earned money I had. Other times they just teased me for being a weakling, then ridiculed my dead parents for being weak and die. Of course I couldn't take anybody insulting my parents, so I struck back and you know what?"

"What?"

"I was awful, I've never been much of a fighter. They had me on the ground in a matter of seconds and would them beat me till I was barely conscious and then just leave me there. It's a miracle I didn't get sick and die just there! Hell, sometimes it would start raining right after they left."

"How awful!"

"I realized that if I ever wanted to get out of that miserable state, I had to be smart. I found a secret place where I'd borrow my money. I had to walk past a dog to get there so every time I went I'd bring a little treat with me so it wouldn't cause such a ruckus. After some years, I had a bagful of money, so I went to the barber and got myself clean then bought some simple clothes and went to get apprenticeship at one of the shopkeepers in town, I had actually saved up that much money. I was somewhere in my teens by that time I think, took me that long to work up that much, but it paid of. When I was done with my apprenticeship, I chose to travel with one of the merchants, carrying things and such for money. In the end, when I'd grown into my late twenties, I had made enough to by my own wagon and goods and start my own business and I've been keeping at that ever since. And well, here I am."

"Wow! You really had a harsh life, didn't you?"

"To say the least, yes," he laughed at that. "But it did teach me an important lesson. That there are no truly good people in this world, every single one of those I met on my road here were as dishonorable as I could ever imagine, especially those street kids, they were the worst! None of them took any sort of pity or care for me, all of them just used me for their own little needs. I decided then, that because the whole world around me was so cruel, I'd avenge my fate the same way life had treated me: I'd trick every single person I could find out of their fortunes and exploit everyone I saw, because I could always be sure that the next would be just as despicable as the one before."

"No wonder people tell about you having a dishonest living," Charsi commented, a bit scornfully.

"And they're right, in every aspect! I AM a dishonest man. But can you really say that the world has been any better to me?" When faced with that question, Charsi just shook her head, having to agree with him. "You see? But hey, that bag right there proves that there's still a little shred of decency left in this old husk of a man here, and that you, young lady, are different from all things that I've ever come across in this misbegotten life of mine. And don't you forget it," he finished in a mock lecturing tone, smiling at the same time. The young blacksmith merely blushed at his words and the old trader that she called her friend just laughed merrily in the way that she'd always remember him.

"Well, here we are," he said and reined his two horses to a slow. "You'd better get off here if you don't want to come all the way to Lut Gholein."

* * *

Gheed now sat impatiently, perched upon his wagon in wait for the Gates of the East before him to open. They'd split up some time ago, the Rogues moving into the monastery while the caravarn continued on to the great gate. He'd been sitting in front of it now in the same manner for over an hour soon and was beginning to think that the stupid Rogues might've lost the key to it.

"How much longer are they going to keep us here?" complained another trader.

"Calm down Maened! They should have it opened anytime now," Warriv shouted back.

"That's what you said last time and we've been waiting here for over an hour already, dammit!" Maened shouted back.

Minutes later they started to hear rumbling and creaking noises. Soon a streak of yellow light burst out from between the two massive doors, blinding everyone present. The sun had still not risen above the mountains and so the western side was still covered in shadows. But as the effect wore off, they stared in admiration as the sun hidden behind the mountains lit up the whole valley and everything beyond that little spring that was the Valley of the Gate, it's rays reaching for miles beyond the gates: it was a majestic sight. Behind the gigantic doors, beyond the valley, they could see the endless deserts of Aranoch as they seemed to spread forever, all the way to the end of the world.

The gates had been designed in such a manner the they were right on the path of the sun as it made its way across the world, making it seem so in the mornings that heaven was just beyond the gates as the suns rays sprayed into the dark Khanduras. It looked almost like an old fairy tale: to leave the cold dark plains of Khanduras and step into the warm bright deserts of Aranoch. Though at closer thought, none of the two sounded particularly enticing.

"Okay men, let us be on our way to Lut Gholein!" Warriv called out and was met by the loud cheers of traders all around him as the wheels of wagons started creaking and the caravan began to rumble forward.

"Hey, Warriv! Isn't that Charsi up there?" a young man by the name of Gilligan said.

"I think it is." Gheed, hearing that, turned his head to where he was pointing. He noticed Charsi standing on one of the lower stone balconies carved out of the mountainside. Seeing that he'd noticed her, she began to wave at him, and Gheed of course, couldn't keep himself from waving back, smiling.

Then something gleamed from beneath her neck.

"What was that?" Gilligan asked.

"Hey! That's that necklace that Gheed gave to Charsi!" Maened yelled.

_Aw dammit!_

"Well, well, Gheed. Looks like we'll have to come back for another tour after all, I wouldn't want to keep your new wife waiting," Warriv mocked and laughed.

"Shut up, Warriv!" Gheed yelled back, thoroughly embarrassed.

And that's when the whole caravan burst into a cavalcade of laughter, one that would be heard for ages, echoing between the mountains of Khanduras.


End file.
